Tuesday Open Thread
Wishing all our readers a safe and fun 4th of July. The U.S.A. may be in troubled times but it's worth remembering how it started and the fundamental goodness of most Americans.
Here's a great video (from Canada about diversity AND working together) - show your kids. Our country used to embrace multiculturalism and immigrants.
Of interest, a story from the NY Times about a series of graphic novels for teens.
Here's a great video (from Canada about diversity AND working together) - show your kids. Our country used to embrace multiculturalism and immigrants.
Of interest, a story from the NY Times about a series of graphic novels for teens.
Bullying, divorce, school shootings, racism and gender identity are among the many issues teenagers grapple with daily. Now, a line of autobiographical graphic novels from a new imprint, Zuiker Press, that debuts in November will allow young people coping with personal or public issues to tell their stories in the hopes of helping peers and adults.
The inspiration for the graphic novel series came from home, said Mr. Zuiker, the creator of the “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation” series and franchise. One of Mr. Zuiker’s sons, Evan, has autism. “He said, ‘I’d like to write a book to tell kids what’s wrong with me,’” Mr. Zuiker recalled. “I told him, why don’t we write a book that tells kids what’s right about you?”Something different in camping - a construction camp.
What's Betsy DeVos been up to?Tell Your Kids:
Design Time! Design and draw blueprints for your birdhouse! Add Up! Put together your construction budget and pay close attention to cost and materials! Buckle Up! Put on your tool belt, boys and girls, you are using power tools! Snap On! Wear that hard hat proudly! You will visit a local job-site!
Shhh! Don’t tell your camper…
…They will be introduced to STEM learning (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). They will learn math skills in a whole new way!
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is postponing until July 1, 2020 the date states need to comply with an Obama-era rule under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that would address whether minority students are disproportionately placed in special education. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's office has also announced postponing the date for including children ages 3 to 5 in the analysis of significant disproportionality from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022, according to a document released by the ED and published in the Federal Register today.What's on your mind?
Many frame the delay as a civil rights and equity issue. Reports, such as the one released in April by Harvard University, add fuel to that argument. The report, entitled “Disabling Punishment," asserts that black students with disabilities miss significantly more class time because of suspensions than their white peers. As Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides, author of “Does Compliance Matter in Special Education? IDEA and the Hidden Inequities of Practice” said, “We need to identify educational policy and practice remedies that seriously contend with the historical and social contexts that define the United States education system. If we don’t, we exhibit a concerning historical amnesia that denies the salience of race in American society and on educational outcomes.”
In the meantime, while the delay will impact how schools respond to the required compliance regulations, there is no rule that prevents schools from actively setting goals to reduce overrepresentation of minority students in special education on their own.
Comments
WaitlistWatch
As I look around the state, teachers are asking for a raise between 8% to 21%.
Seattle will receive an initial influx of dollars next year, but that amount will take a precipitous drop due to levy funding.
Contract negotiations are every three years. Funding for materials etc. went to teacher salaries, as well.
The board has an obligation to assure dollars for students and healthy future budgets.
It is going to be interesting to see Olympia's take on big raises.
https://www.quora.com/Do-students-graduate-with-large-debts-from-Ivy-League-colleges
I think if SPS has more National Merit scholars we'd see more Ivy League attendance, but then UW is a great school, the kids have all visited in 7th grade, it's a public school, which most SPS families believe in conceptually and it's cheap.
Downer
Early bird
When we first moved to Seattle, we had the impression many growing families moved to the east side when their kids reached middle or high school - for better schools, more space, and a more family oriented lifestyle. With the regional uptick in home prices, we are seeing some families renovate and stay put, but I would be curious if private school attendance is up as well. When much of the new housing stock is designed for 1-2 person households, you have to wonder what will happen to those young families pushing around the strollers.
long view
There are three kinds of students accepted at the Ivy league and other top schools, like Caltech, MIT, Harvey Mudd, Stanford.
there's legacy of wealthy and/or famous parents at the snootier ones, and they pay and donate
there's the brilliant and talented who they really want and will pay to attend
And a few really high achievers but not brilliant and they have to pay.
SPS has a few NMSF and they could get in, but money? we don't seem to have the flamboyantly brilliant here.
Turnip truck
JK
As someone who went to a prestigious grad school across the country, I can say that I would have been better off attending a not-quite-as-prestigious school in my home state, where the internships and connections I built along the way could benefit me more long-term. Sending PNW kids off to east coast schools often doesn't do them any favors, and I'm not sure why that's a priority for some. Maybe for those fixated on status and prestige? But for those who aren't, there are plenty of well-regarded non-ivy schools on the west coast.
@ Turnip Truck, I'm not sure how you define "flamboyantly brilliant," but how would you even know if we have such kids? Would there need to be public stories about them in the newspaper, along the lines of "10-year-old whiz kid taking classes at UW"? If those students didn't want to be news fodder, would they still be brilliant, despite not flaunting it? Just curious.
Funny Fixations